Bill's Visit

Bill just left for the airport a couple hours ago and I'm washing the sheets and getting ready for my next round of visitors who arrive in 4 days. Bill and I had a wonderful time traveling in Ireland and Scotland. We visited some of the Dublin landmarks - Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Grafton Street and Temple Bar before leaving town. We rented a car and headed to the south of Ireland. We made lots of wrong turns getting to Powerscourt Gardens (in the Wicklow Mountains about 1/2 an hour south of Dublin), but we saw the most incredible scenery and Bill loved driving the manual car fast on the narrow winding roads. We stayed in Waterford and Lismore, and saw the Waterford Crystal factory, Lismore Castle and Cahir Castle. We also just meandered around some of the small towns in the Ireland countryside (Passage East and Dungarvan). We had a slow pace and just enjoyed our time. We happened across an arcade and played air hockey and later that night our B&B had a pool table. I'm sad to say that Bill won both. Seeing as my pool skills are severely lacking, I need to brush up on my air hockey skills!

I managed to work a little bit in the middle of the week while Bill was exploring Ireland and then we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland for a few days. We were not planning to rent a car, but after our earlier driving experiences, Bill decided to rent a car so that we could get to St. Andrews famous golf course. I did some exploring in Edinburgh and walked the royal mile our first night and then the spent most of next day at St. Andrews. I have to admit I don't fully comprehend the significance of St. Andrews to the game of golf, but Bill explained that it is the home of golf where it has been played forever. We looked at the prices to play the Old Course and found out that you have to apply over a year in advance in writing to apply for a tee time, which may not even be granted. Once you do get a tee time, the cost for 18 holes is about $275. I'd rather go shopping than play golf anyday :)

We also saw the Britannia Royal Yacht, which was the British Royal Family Yacht until it was decommissioned in 1997. Prince Charles and Princess Diana also honeymooned on the Britannia Royal Yacht. It is now docked a couple miles from Edinburgh city centre. Our last stop was the Edinburgh Castle which includes the stone of scone and the crown jewels. Jewels are always nice to look at, but the ones in London are much more impressive. Then we headed back to Dublin. Now its time to prepare for my cousin and two friends who are arriving on Thursday. I also need to spend some time focusing on work!